Barry University

Barry University is a private Catholic university in Miami Shores, Florida. Founded in 1940 by the Adrian Dominican Sisters, it is one of the largest Catholic universities in the Southeast and is within the territory of the Archdiocese of Miami. The university offers more than 100 degree programs, from bachelors to doctorate, in six schools and two colleges. Barry University has more than 7,000 students, a campus of 54 buildings, a branch campus in Tallahassee, a law school in Orlando, and 50,000 alumni. Barry College was founded as a women's college by a pair of siblings: Patrick Barry, Bishop of St. Augustine, and his sister, Mary Gerald Barry, OP, then prioress of the Adrian Dominican Sisters. The construction of what was then the Barry College for Women began in 1940, in what had previously been "a tract of tropical vegetation". The empty lot was soon transformed into the main campus in Miami Shores, Florida. The original campus consisted of five buildings. Mother Barry served as president from 1940 to 1961. Barry College became Barry University on November 13, 1981. Barry University continues to be sponsored by the Dominican Sisters of Adrian, Michigan. It is an independent 501(c)(3) organization and has an independent board of trustees. The university has had six Adrian Dominican Sisters serve as president since its inception: M. Gerald Barry, 1940–61; M. Genevieve Weber, 1962–63; M. Dorothy Browne, 1963–74; M. Trinita Flood, 1974–81; Jeanne O'Laughlin, 1981–2004; and Linda Bevilacqua, 2004–2019. Mike Allen began his tenure as the seventh president of Barry University on July 1, 2019. He is the first man and lay person to lead Barry University since its founding in 1940. The motherhouse of the sisters is in Adrian, Michigan. The Cor Jesu ("Heart of Jesus") Chapel is intended to be the spiritual and physical heart of the campus. It was financed with the aid of Margaret Brady Farrell, a parishioner of St. Patrick's Church in Miami Beach.